Variable transmission



May 19, 1931.- c. J. LANGLEY ET AL VARIABLE TRANSMISSION Filed June 27,1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 1931. c. J. LANGLEY ET AL 1,805,523

VARIABLE TRANSMISSION Filed June 27,1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 M y 1931. c.J. LANGLEY ET AL 11,805,523

VARIABLE TRANSMISSION Filed June 27, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 'HIHHHI 1931.c. J. LANGLEY ET AL 1,805,523

VARIABLE TRANSMISSION 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 27, 1929 May 19, 1931.c. J: LANGLEY ET AL VARIABLE TRANSMIS S ION Filed June 27, 1929 5Sheets-Sheet- '5 I gnaw atom Patented May 19, 1931- i UNITED S ATEerr-race ooR'rLANnT a. LANGLEY AnnfwILniA /r 'F. ononivren, on EW roars,Y., assrenons *ro err-Antes w. BUMs'rnan, or HIGHLAHD PARK, NEWJERSEY,'TRUSTEE App1ication fi1ed June 27.

Our invention relates to improvements inapparatusfor transnnttingkpower.

L'ight'high speed engines, and motors :do]

not develop their full power until runnin the several drawings. p

a high rate of speed. Thus these motors require clutches and variousgear trains to overcome the initial high starting torque of a load.There are many inherent disadvantages to the present types ofgear trainsand clutches used in this connection. I I

The primary object of our invention is to produce a means fortransmitting power in. a driving shaft running'at its most efficientspeed to driven shaft which is initially at rest.,., v

Another object of o'ur invention isto pro-I; duce a form of-transmissionsuchfthat when the driven-shaft lias beenbrought. up to the. speed ofthe driving shaft, all the parts of the transmission mechanismwill'movein the same direction and without a furth'er' internalmovementof the gears. 1

Other advantages andgbenefits of our invention will. appear from thefollowing descrip tion and'drawi ngs'in which various reference-;.characters referto similar partsthroughoutv Fig. l-is a plan view of amachine; showing our lrnprovernents; V

F1g.2 isgaslde elevat on thereoft p v FlglB 1s-anjaxiall longitud nalsection of theinachine;

I Figs. 4 and 5arefdetailsshowl ngslightal ternative connections betweencertain parts of the apparatus. i j; is

Fig. 6 1s a cross. section on the line 66 of Fig.3; 'o

v Flg. 71s a cross section on the hne (+7 of ai, r i

Fig. 8 1s a cross section on the l ne 8 of F g. 9 1s a cross sectiononthe l ne 9-9 of; lg ;3; I. v

Fig.10 1s a as section are al-aim j they show the structure in itspreferred form. The driving shaft 10 is in end alignment 1929. Serialno. 373,974.

with driven shaft 11 and the two are sep- I arated hv suitable thrusthearing such as the ball 12. We have shown the shaftsniounted in asuitable supporting frame comprising the standards 13 and the base it,but it will, of course, be understood that the 1%01'111101'5 the generalapparatus or machine is not material. The adjacent ends of the drivingand driven shafts enter a rotor 15 forming a part of a planetarydifferential gear connection between, the driving and driven shafts andthrough this extend the parallel shafts16 of the planetary gears whichturn on their own axes and onone side connect by gears 18 and 17 withthe driving shaft10, and on the other by gears 22 and 23 withthe drivenshaft 11.

lnthe drawings we have shown the gears 18 fasttothe rotor 15., Theapparatus is controlled from the left e nd as shown in Fig. 3 and atthis part the driving shaft has a spacing ineinber 24 on which is thesleeve 25 which has key ways 26 lengthwise thereof and an external screwthread'27. The key. ways are to receive the keys on the inner edgeofthev plateQO, which is fast to (one of the hearing members or standards13Q'asshown in Fig. 3,

being separated therefrom by the spacing rings 30 and3l. l i f A rotarynut in the form a sleeve turns. on the screw thread 27. and-is providedwith a suitable, wheel29, so that by turning the nut the sleeve.25fcanbe moved lengthwise along the shaft 10 for the purpose ofregulating the;

speed'of the driven shaft ll as will presently appear. Tlienioveinent ofthe. sleeve 25 also moves the control disc-3a and in the drawings we?have shown thrust bearings 35 and 36 to reducejfriction between theparts mentioned.

The control disc 34; is shown with cone.

surface32 adapted to entera socket 33inthe housing 21 so that whentheseiparts arein engagenientthe driving discand housing willboth turn"at the same speed and in direct;

contact. It will beu'nderstood that any other 3 and Fig. 11. The largerend portions of.

the members 37 are cylindrical and made to nicely tit and rotate on thering or collar 40 which is fast to the shank 41 of the housing 21. Athrust bea ring 44 is shown between the ring 42 and the adjacentstationary parts of the structure.

The tapering members 37 are held against displacement by the bearings45, 4G, and 47. These hearings are held in spaced relationship by thespring 43. They bear against the cones 37 with rounded edges 53. 45 and47 a are left free to turn as can be seen by the arrangement of the ballbearing races 54. Bearing 46 is held in a fixed position by means of thelugs 48 which are held by the guide rods 49 which extend longitudinallyat the opposite sides of the machine between the standards 13. The race55 of collar 46 is left free to turn.

It will be noted by reference to Figure 3 that the tapering members 37are pitched so that their inner sides will be parallel with the drivingshaft 10.

A modification of the connection between the cone members 37 and thering 40 is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In Fig. 4 the member 37 is shown asgeared at 50 to the ring 40, both members having projecting teeth. InFig. 5 the cone members have teeth 52 which fit in slots in the collar40.

Figure 3 shows the transmission 7 means adjusted so that the drivingshaft 10 may go at a high rate of speed without transmitting anymovement to the driven shaft 11. As

sume that the driving shaft 10 travels at a speed of one, the disc 34which is keyed to shaft 10 will also travel at the speed of one. Bymeans of the gear 17 on shaft 10 movement is transmitted to the gear 18on the rotor 15. Because of the one-to-two arrangement of the gears therotor will travel at a speed of two in relation to the speedof thedriving shaft 10. No movement will be transmitted to the'driven shaft 11because of the one-toone ratio of gears 22 and 23. The housing 21 willmove at a speed of two inasmuch as it is connected to the rotor 15. Thecollar 40 connected to the housing 21 will cause the cones 37 to revolvedue to the friction connection between the two. As has been statedabove, the diameters of the opposite ends of the cones have a two-to-onerelationship. It follows that as the cones resting on the collar 40 arecaused to revolve at a speed of two, therefore, that portion of thecones resting on the disc 34 also revolves at a speed of two, but due tothe two-to-one relationship in diameters, the peripheral speed of thecone bearing on the disc 34 will be the same as that of the disc 34. Itis seen, therefore, that there is no braking or accelerating actionbetween the collar 40 or disc 34 and the cones 37. However, by turningthe wheel 29, the sleeve 25 may be forced forward, thus moving the keydisc 34 along the shaft 10. This movement of the disc 34 changes therelationship of two-to-one between the bearing points on the cones 37.In other words, the cones 37, which are being forced to travel at thespeed of two, will no longer, due to their reduction in diameter, havethe same peripheral speed as the disc 34, in the position shown inFigure 3. The disc 34 still travels at a. speed of one. In movingforward towards the collar 40, the peripheral speed of the conesradually becomes son'iething greater than that of the disc 34 andgrai'lually approaches the speed of the collar 40. Thus the disc 34 actsas a brake upon the revolving movement of the cones 37. This brakingaction is transferred by them to the collar 40 and through the sleeve 21to the rotor 15. Any slowing up of the rotor 15 immediately brings thegears 22 and 23 into action causing a movement in the driven shaft 11.Further movement of the disc 34 towards the collar 40 causes an increasein the braking action upon the rotor 15 with a resulting increase in thespeed of shaft 11. As a final position, the disc 34 with its conicalsurface 32 may bclocked into the conical recess 33 of the sleeve 21. Inthis position, the disc 34 and the sleeve 21 must necessarily travel atthe same speed. The disc 34 always travelling at the speed of thedriving shaft 10 thus causes the housing 21 of the rotor 15 to alsotravel at the speed of one. The shaft 11 must then necessarily alsotravel at the speed of one. It is seen that in this position all of theparts are revolving in the same direction and that there is no movementof the gears 18, 17, 22 or 23.

We have described onl a specific form of our device. To those skilled inthe art, it is obvious that there are possible modifications. We,therefore, do not wish to be limited by this description and drawing butonly by the prior art and the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A structure of the kind described, comprising a driving shaft and adriven shaft in end alignment, a planetary gear system connecting theshafts and comprising a rotor having gears on opposite sides connectedto I the appropriate shafts, a housing for one set of gears rotatable onthe driving shaft and connected to the rotor, a differential brakingconnection between the driving shaft and the housing, and a separateclutch 7 connection between the driving shaft and the housing.

2. In a structuresuch as described the combination with the drivingshaft and a group of rotatable tapering members grouped around theshaft, of means for holding the said members against endwise displacement, a driving connection between said tapering members. and thedriving shaft, a collar embracing the group of tapering members andaresilientmember encirclingsaid tapering members for holding said collarin operative position. I p

3. A structure of the kind described 00111- prising a driving shaft anda driven shaft in 7 end to end relation, a rotor at the adjacent 7 endsof the shafts, planetary gears connecting the rotor with the saidshafts, a housing the said disc and the; said housing, positioned f toact as the said disc reaches the limit of its forward movement on thedriving shaft.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this SPGClfiCatlOIl.

CORTLANDT J. LANGLEY. WILLIAM F. OGORMAN.

